Conveyor wicket



Sept. 14, 1965 A. R. PHILIPS 3,206,007

CONVEYOR WICKET Filed Sept. 27, 1963 INVENTOR. FlG 6 ALBERT R. PHILIPSATTORNEY -.V

United States Patent 3,206,007 CDNVEYOR WICKET Albert R. Philips,Brooklyn, ()hio, assignor to Young Brothers Company, Cleveland, Ohio, acorporation of Michigan Filed Sept. 27, 1963, Ser. No. 312,245 11Claims. (Cl. 198-134) The present invention relates generally, asindicated, to a conveyor wicket, and, more particularly, to certainimprovements in conveyor wickets of the type shown in Patent No.2,821,286, granted to James D. Russell on January 28, 1958.

In such patent, there is disclosed a tubular wicket for supporting alithographed or coated thin metal sheet and the like as the same ismoved by a conveyor through an oven in which the printing ink or coatingis baked.

Such a wicket is sufficiently strong to withstand stresses encounteredduring the repeated heating cycles without losing its shape and is lightin construction so as to place as little a load on the conveyor aspossible. The wicket also provides very little contact with the metalsheet carried thereby so that there is little interference with the flowof hot air over the sheets in the oven, thus resulting in a uniformbaking of the finish.

In operation, the sheets are fed from a printing press or coating deviceto a position where they can be picked up by the wickets prior toentering the oven. The sheets must be properly positioned over thewickets so that when they are raised to pick up the sheets, the sheetswill not slide or float thereon. If such sliding movement were allowedto occur, the sheets might assume such a position on the wickets thatthey would not be properly held thereby, in which case the sheets mightflutter while passing through the oven, thus resulting in a nonuniformcoating thereon. Or such sliding movement might so disorient the sheetson the wickets that they slide off while passing through the oven, or,at the least, result in an uneven stack when the sheets are unloadedafter passing through the oven.

Once the sheets are properly oriented on the wickets, they must besecurely held thereby to prevent flutter of such sheets as they passthrough the oven. Further, the sheets must also be capable of beingquickly and easily removed from the wickets subsequent to the bakingoperation.

The conveyor is generally provided with a great many wickets securedthereto in closely spaced relation with respect to each other. Thewickets must be disposed at a slight rearward inclination relative tothe direction of movement of such conveyor so that the uncoated faces ofthe sheets rest against the front faces of the wickets.

It is therefore a primary object of this invention to provide animproved wicket construction which will allow the sheets to be conveyedto a position where they can be picked up by the wickets with a minimumof relative sliding movement.

It is another object of this invention to provide such wickets with anovel holding means for securing the sheets against the wickets toprevent sheet flutter and to release the sheets quickly and easily whendesired.

An additional object is to provide a novel means for properly spacingthe wickets on the conveyor.

It is another object to provide a rest bar having integral sheet supportclips thereon.

It is another object to provide a conveyor wicket with novel sheetsupport clips for supporting a wide range of sheet sizes.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will becomeapparent as the following description proceeds.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related 32061907 PatentedSept. 14, 1965 ends, the invention, then, comprises the featureshereinafter fully described and particularly pointed out in the claims,the following description and the annexed drawings setting forth indetail certain illustrative embodiments of the invention, these beingindicative, however, of but a few of the various ways in which theprinciple of the invention may be employed.

In said annexed drawings:

FIG. 1 is a front elevation of one form of my improved wicketconstruction in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a side elevation of such wicket;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged sectional view taken on the plane of the line 33in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged detail horizontal section taken on the plane ofline 44 of FIG. 1 showing the improved rest clip construction;

FIG. 5 is a vertical sectional view taken on the plane of the line 5-5in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary front elevation of a portion of a wicket frameillustrating a further modification of the rest clip; and

FIG. 7 is an enlarged vertical sectional view taken on the plane of theline 77 in FIG. 6.

Referring now to the drawings in detail, I have illustrated in FIG. 1one form of my improved wicket construction which comprises a tubularframe 1 having a generally rectangular configuration with two slots 2and 3 in the outer edge thereof. The slots preferably extendapproximately three-fourths of the length of the wicket frame and are sodimensioned that the belts of a conveyor (not shown) can be positionedto extend into the same. Thus when metal sheets are fed to a positionadjacent the wickets from a printing press or coating device, they canbe picked up by oven feed conveyor belts and accurately conveyed to sucha position over the wickets that when the wickets are raised to pick upthe sheets, there will be a minimum of sliding or floating movementtherebetween.

The elimination of all such sliding movement is desirable since it cancause misalignment of the sheets on the wickets to such an extent thatthey cannot be firmly gripped by the wickets. Consequently, as theconveyor passes through the oven, the conveyor pulsation, air flow, etc.may cause the sheets either to fall 01f the wickets or flutter, thusresulting in uneven or marred coatings thereon. loaded after havingpassed through the not stack evenly.

The frame 1 is comprised of three generally inverted U-shape members 4,5, and 6 interconnected by U-shape braces 7 and 8, which define thedepth of the slots 2 and 3, respectively.

Within the members 4 and 6 are provided braces 9 and 10, respectively,the lower ends of which are secured to the outer legs 11 and 12 as bybrazing. The braces 9 and 10 extend upwardly from the outer legs 11 and12, respectively, in a convergent direction until they engage the innerlegs 13 and 14 of the members 4 and 6 and then in a divergent directionuntil they again engage outer legs 11 and 12, respectively, and aresecured to such legs at their points of engagement by brazing.

Also within the members 4 and 6 are lower braces 15 and 16, the upperends of which are secured to the inner legs 13 and 14, respectively.These lower brace 15 and 16 extend downwardly in a divergent directionuntil they engage the lower ends of braces 9 and 10, respectively, andthen extend downwardly parallel with the outer legs 11 and 12, and aresecured to braces 9 and 10 at their respective points of engagement.

Within the inverted U-shape member 5 there are dis- Moreover, when thesheets are automatically unoven, they will posed two braces 17 and 18having outer ends 19 and 20 oppositely directed and brazed in laterallyspaced relation to each other to the bight portion 21. The braces 17 and18 extend downwardly in a convergent direction until they come intocontact with each other and then extend horizontally in oppositedirections until they bend upwardly and engage the legs 22 and 23,respectively, these points of engagement also being secured by brazingand horizontally aligned with the tops of braces 15, 7, 8, and 16.

The ends of the legs of the inverted U-shape members and the lower endsof the lower braces 15 and 16 are secured to. a lower rest bar 24. Therest bar is shown in FIG. as a solid thin metal bar having a generallyrounded and flanged cross-section. However, the bar can also be made ofperforated metal, expanded metal, screen, etc. to permit theunobstructed passage of air therethrough while in the furnace so thatthe finish on the sheets can be uniformly baked. Such perforations, canbe of any one of a number of shapes, such as rounded, diagonal,rectangular, diamond, or triangular. Moreover, if desired the bar mayhave a rectangular cross-section to. increase the stiffness thereof.

Projecting outwardly from the rest bar 2.4 are end rest clips 25 andintermediate rest clips 26. Preferably, the rest clips are formedintegral with the rest bar, thus giving a simple one-piece constructionwhich eliminates the need for having accurately to positionprefabricated clips on the bar and weld them thereto. However, it shouldbe understood that the clips can be made separately from the rest barand welded thereto if desired.

As can readily be, seen in, FIGS. 4 and 5, each of the intermediate restclips 26 includes an outwardly extending base portion 27 having a hole28 through which the end of one of the inner legs 13 and 14 of theinverted U- shape members 4 and 6 or the end of one of the legs '22 and23 of the inverted U-shape member 5 extends, and

an upwardly and outwardly extending arm portion 29. At the junction ofthe base member 27 and arm 29 there are provided two laterally spacedinwardly extending projections or indentations 30, the spacingtherebetween being such that one of the projections is disposed oneither side of the leg of the inverted U-shape member extending throughthe hole 28 in the base 27 as viewed in FIG. 1.

Each end rest clip 25 has a configuration similar to that of theintermediate rest clips 26 except that it is longer than theintermediate clips so as to embrace the end of one of the outer legs 11and 12 of the inverted U- shape members 4 and 6 and the lower end of oneof the lower braces and 16, and it has only one inwardly extendingprojection 30 at the junction of the base member 27 and arm 29, suchprojection being disposedadjacent the inward side of the lower end ofone of the lower braces 15 and 16 as viewed in FIG. 1.

Anchor pins 31 are positioned between the ends of the outer leg 11 andthe lower brace 15 and between the ends of the outer leg 12 and thelower brace 16, and extend downwardly through the hole 28 in the endclips 25. The lower ends of these pins are adapted to be attached tolinks of an endless conveyor chain (not shown) which is adapted to movethrough an oven of the type disclosed in the previously mentionedRussell Patent No. 2,821,- 286. A more detailed diclosure of such anoven maybe found in Patent No. 2,406,821, granted to V. A. Fox onSeptember 3, 1946.

The configuration of the rest clips not only permit them to aid in theplacement of a metal sheet on each of the wickets, but also to holdsecurely the sheets to the wickets to prevent them from fluttering asthey are conveyed through the oven. Further, the sheet can. be removedquickly and easily from the clips when desired.

Thus, when the sheets are fed to the desired position over theirrespective wickets, the leading edge thereof will come into engagementwith the outer ends of the arms 29 of the clips and 26 so that when thewickets are raised to pick up the sheets, such leading edge will slidedownwardly along the inner surfaces of the arms 29 until it comes torest on the base 27 of the clips, the sheets being so disposed that theuncoated surface thereof is facing the tubular frame of the wickets.When in this position the edge of the sheets S will be slightly bowedaround each of the ends of the legs of the inverted U- shape members inthe manner shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 due to the relative disposition of theprojections 30 on the clips 25 and 26 with respect to such legs. Themetal sheets, being thin and quite flexible, will assume the bowedconfiguration due to the force of gravity acting thereon and thus effecta tight engagement with the wickets. Moreover, since the sheets aremerely flexed or bowed, rather than wedged into tight engagement withthe wickets, they can be easily removed from the wickets after thebacking operation by a withdrawal conveyor having belts disposed in theslots of the wickets.

Top spacer clips 32 are securely fastened to. the bight portions of eachof the U-shape members 4, 5, and 6. As can be seen in FIG. 3, the spacerclips 32 include a base portion 33 having a downwardly projecting flange34 extending from the outer end thereof and a hook-shape member 35extending downwardly from the inner end, such hook-shape member beingformed to fit the tubular sectional configuration of the bight portion.When so formed, greater accuracy in positioning the clips 32 on theframe can be achieved. Thus, when a plurality of such wickets aresecured to a conveyor they will be maintained in closely spaced relationby the clips 32 and also be disposed at a slight rearward inclinationrelative to the direction of movement of the conveyor to allow theuncoated faces of the sheets to rest against the unobstructed frontfaces of the wickets.

A further refinement of the conveyor wicket is shown in FIG. 6, whereinextra long end rest clips 36 have been substituted for the end restclips 25 and the intermediate rest clips 26 may be eliminated. Theselong rest clips 36 have particular utility when it is desired to use thesame wicket to support sheets of different sizes since the ends of theleading edge of the sheets can be properly supported by such rest clipswithin a broad range of sizes. Moreover, such long rest clips 36 cangive the proper support to a sheet having a scrolled, notched, or otherirregularly shaped leading edge, while shorter rest clips will not beable to provide the desired support if the highs and lows of the leadingedge of the sheets have a length greater than the length of the restclips.

The arms 29 of the rest clips 36 may be provided with perforations 37,if desired, to permit unobstructed passage of the air in the oven, thusinsuring more uniform heating of the sheets. In addition, perforations37 may also be provided in the base member 27 of the rest clips 36, asclearly shown in FIG. 7.

Other modes of applying the principles of the invention may be employed,change being made as regards the details described, provided thefeatures stated in any of the following claims or the equivalent of suchbe employed.

I therefore, particularly point out and distinctly claim as myinvention:

1. A conveyor wicket comprising a tubular frame, said tubular frameincluding a plurality of spaced apart leg members, a rigid rest barextending across the lower ends of said leg members, a plurality of restclips extending upwardly and outwardly from one side of said rest bar,one said clip being located adjacent each leg member, said rest clipshaving at least one inwardly extending projection therein disposed on.one side of said leg members, said projections being adapted securely tohold a thin metal sheet against said tubular frame.

2. The conveyor wicket of claim 1 wherein the rest clips adjacent theoutermost leg members have only one inwardly extending projectiontherein and the intermediate rest clips have two inwardly extendingprojections, one

being disposed on either side of the respective leg members.

3. The conveyor wicket of claim 1 wherein said rest clips and rest barare of a one-piece construction.

4. A conveyor wicket comprising a tubular frame, a rigid rest barsecured to the lower end of said tubular frame, a plurality of upwardlyand outwardly extending rest clips secured to one side of said rest bar,and a plurality of inwardly extending projections on said rest clips,said projections being adapted securely to hold a thin metal sheetagainst said tubular frame.

5. The conveyor wicket of claim 4 wherein only two rest clips aresecured to said rest bar, said rest clips being suflieiently long tosupport metal sheets of different sizes.

6. The conveyor wicket of claim 4 wherein said rest clips are extralong, thus being adapted properly to support metal sheets havingirregularly shaped leading edges.

7. The conveyor wicket of claim 6 wherein said rest clips are providedwith a plurality of perforations to permit the unobstructed passage ofair as said wicket is conveyed through an oven.

8. A wicket for use in a sheet conveyor comprising a tubular framehaving a generally rectangular configuration with a plurality of beltreceiving slots in the upper edge thereof, a rigid rest bar secured tothe lower end of said tubular frame, a plurality of upwardly andoutwardly extending rest clips secured to one side of said rest bar, aplurality of inwardly extending projections on said rest clips, saidprojection being adapted securely to hold a thin metal sheet againstsaid tubular frame, and a plu rality of top spacer clips securelyfastened to said tubular frame, each of said spacer clips including ahook-shape portion extending downwardly from one end thereof, saidhook-shape portion being formed to fit the tubular configuration of saidframe.

9. The wicket of claim 8 wherein said rest clips and rest bar are of aone-piece construction.

10. The conveyor wicket of claim 8 wherein said tubular frame includesthree inverted U-shape members laterally spaced from each other anddisposed in the same plane, said inverted U-shape members beingconnected together by braces secured to their adjacent leg members, saidbraces defining the bottom of said belt receiving slots.

11. A conveyor wicket comprising a tubular frame hav ing a generallyrectangular configuration, said tubular frame including a plurality oflaterally spaced inverted U-shape members secured together by bracesjoining the adjacent legs thereof, said braces and adjacent legsdefining belt receiving slots in said tubular frame, support bracesdisposed within said inverted U-shape members, a rigid rest bar securedto the lower ends of said inverted U-shape members, a plurality of restclips extending upwardly and outwardly from one side of said rest bar,said rest bar and rest clips being of one-piece construction, one ofsaid rest clips being disposed adjacent each leg of said invertedU-shape members, said legs extending through an aperture in said restclips, a plurality of inwardly extending projections on said rest clips,said projections being adapted to retain a thin metal sheet in positionagainst said tubular frame, and a spacer clip secured to the bightportion of each of said inverted U- shape members, said spacer clipsbeing formed to fit the tubing of said frame to provide greater accuracyin positioning said rest clips thereon.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,461,162 2/49Laird 198-156 X 2,706,552 4/55 Key 198-134 2,821,286 1/58 Russell198-134 FOREIGN PATENTS 884,228 7/53 Germany.

SAMUEL F. COLEMAN, Primary Examiner.

EDWARD A. SROKA, Examiner.

1. A CONVEYOR WICKET COMPRISING A TUBULAR FRAME, SAID TUBULAR FRAMEINCLUDING A PLURALITY OF SPACED APART LEG MEMBERS, A RIGID REST BAREXTENDING ACROSS THE LOWER ENDS OF SAID LEG MEMBERS, A PLURALITY OF RESTCLIPS EXTENDING UPWARDLY AND OUTWARDLY FROM ONE SIDE OF SAID REST BAR,ONE SAID CLIP BEING LOCATED ADJACENT EACH LEG MEMBER,